The Power of Technology

This I believe that small human innovations combine to form technologies that revolutionize human life in ways rarely predicted. I think that is the small things that come together to chance how we live our everyday existence that are the true marvels of technology. It’s technological accomplishments such as the wheel and the internet that define and power our technology based society.

To my generation it is hard to imagine a world without the internet. Ever since its invention, the internet has become so incorporated into our everyday life that it becomes hard to imagine a world without the world wide web. This online revolution is a tribute to the fundamental ability of technology to advance human lifestyle. What is more amazing to me is how it this technology draws its power from a variety of little human inventions. The fundamentals behind the internet computer, networking technologies, and public websites all seem great feats themselves, but the inventions behind them are so diverse that I never cease to be amazed at the power of technology to brings these things together to accomplish great things.

I still remember my first experience with personal computers. My dad showed me his laptop and played some arcade games with me. I was completely awestruck simply by the technology and my interest in electronics was unlocked. As I learned more about computers though, I began to understand them, and I shifted focus to marvel how the technology came together. The mathematical calculations behind modern computers draw their roots from mechanical gearing systems used in WW2 American Bombers to calculate bomb drops. Then this mathematical logic was taken and turned into electrical pulses in machines the size of rooms to calculate math. After that fate intervened and a lab assistant and Texas instruments working during a holiday discovered a way of miniaturizing the process onto silicon chips. With these chips mathematical programming was written to present graphics. And now it has progressively morphed into what we call the modern PC. Amazing!

This I believe that technology always has and always will improve and human life. I imagine that the next great technological break through will be advances in genetics or spaceflight, but I cannot even begin to guess how these breakthroughs will work. It is this unexpectedness that is the true power of technology.

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This week’s essay

Growing up in the former Yugoslavia, lawyer Djenita Pasic enjoyed the peace of her religiously diverse country. But after the fall of communism and the outbreak of the Bosnian War, Pasic was forced to reevaluate her ideas about religion and tolerance. Click here to read her essay.